With the warm weather approaching, come the benefits of gardening: a chance to reduce stress, clear your head, and be in the moment. Taking care of plants is also a bit like taking care of yourself. Here you will find useful information and sound advice for organizing your garden.

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How dangerous are spiders?

Today, a black widow bite is rarely fatal since a serum and medical treatments are available.

Photo: Insectarium de Montréal (René Limoges)

Chiracanthium mildei can sometimes cause an allergic reaction when it bites, which it very rarely does.

Photo: Insectarium de Montréal (Laurent Desaulniers)

Exotic species of spiders sometimes enter Canada in shipments of imported products, such as Heteropoda venatoria, which has been found in bunches of bananas. These exotic species have yet to reproduce in our region or in refrigerated warehouses.

Photo: Insectarium de Montréal (Laurent Desaulniers)

Spiders rarely bite humans. Instead, they tend to flee danger. Most of they time, when they bite, it is because the spider accidentally gets stuck between a person’s skin and another object (such as sheets, clothing or shoes) or when people try to catch or handle them with their bare hands.

Are they poisonous? Do they cause allergies?

Almost all spiders produce venom to paralyze their prey before they eat it. However, if a spider does bite, only around 30 of the 47,600 known species of spiders produce venom that is dangerous enough to pose a threat to human health. None of these species live in Quebec.

Certain people can develop symptoms of allergies to spiders. However, this phenomenon is rare and varies from one person to another. Reactions to bites are not associated with the venom itself, but the allergenic proteins in the spider’s saliva. Allergic reactions can also be caused by inhaling hairs, scales or other small parts of the spider. These arthropods do not transmit diseases.

Can spiders sting us?

No, but they can bite us. They do not have stingers like wasps, bees and scorpions. Instead, they have two fanglike appendages called chelicerae, which they use to pierce the exoskeleton of their prey. In Quebec, and all over the world, a spider’s chelicerae are usually too small or fragile to pierce human skin. Spiders that do manage to bite us usually cause only mild pain.

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Space for Life brings together the Biodôme, the Insectarium, the Jardin botanique and the Planétarium Rio Tinto Alcan on the same site.These four prestigious institutions of the City of Montreal form the largest natural science complex in Canada.